Gym Day with Jessica Day
by RoughSeas00
Summary: Jess convinces Nick to accompany her to the gym. Of course he should have said no but then she gave him that look and put on workout leggings...and now we're here.
1. The Beginning

This was a terrible idea and he knew it. He knew it from the beginning but had he said no? Of course not. He couldn't remember the last time he had said no to Jess. Because really who could? With the stupid puppy dog eyes and the ridiculous workout leggings? As a man with little to no determination, he could only take so much. It had all started when him and Jess were sitting on the couch watching some show about sassy old ladies, but he couldn't pay attention because she had unknowingly curled up into his side, her head resting on his chest. After she settled in he slowly lifted his arm up and around her shoulders; she barely reacted. He had never been this closely intimate with her and he was afraid she could hear his heartbeat. A couple episodes later some guy came onto the show and Jess immediately started commenting on his body. Nick felt a pang in his stomach. His chubby, not well defined stomach.

"God, Jessica, he's not a piece of meat. I can't hear the show over your fawning" he snapped, not being able to contain his frustration anymore. Jess just rolled her eyes at him, shifting a little bit under his arm to look up at him.

"Oh, whatever, Nicholas. You're just jealous you don't have his body. Obviously he hits the gym a little bit more than you do" she giggled and poked her finger into his stomach which, to her delight, sunk down with a gurgle. He slapped her hand away and did his best to suppress his 'turtle face' so she wouldn't have anything else to laugh at.

"I go to the gym, Jess," he insisted, "just when you're not home".

"Oh, is that right?" she teased, sitting up to turn and face him, "then why don't you go with me tomorrow morning?". He should have stopped it right there but this was a challenge and Millers didn't back down from challenges. Unless, it was financial. Or athletic. Or academic. OK maybe Millers did back down from challenges but Nick wasn't backing down from this one.

"Well maybe I will." he said. Then he settled back into the couch and patted his side for Jess to lay back down. She just smirked and snuggle back up to him. She watched the show for another hour while he tried to figure out how he was going to get himself out of the mess he had created


	2. The Sleep Before pt 1

**(a/n) i'm horrible at titling chapters. like horrible. but i also dont want to be one of those authors who just numbers them. so we end up with crap titles like "the sleep before." sincerest apologies**

When Jess finally retired to her room with a stretch and a cute little mewl, Nick could let his panic out in the open. With every second since he accepted Jess's challenge (that wasn't even really a challenge) his anxiety doubled. No, tripled. No, it didn't matter. He had to figure out how to get out of this. He collapsed into his bed and slammed his head into his pillow, imagining it was actually a brick wall. He was going to go to the gym with Jess and she was going to see that he had no upper body strength, or lower body strength, or any body strength at all, and she would fall in love with someone else and would never love him the way he loved her.

Not that he loved her. Not like that of course. That would be crazy and depleting to his mental health in a way that he just couldn't handle. He just wished she wouldn't see him as a big brother in the way he knew she did. Why else would she snuggle with him on the couch and tease him and even rumple his hair sometimes? Heck, she treated him like one of her first graders half of the time, and that was fine because any time with her was time well spent, but sometimes he really wished she would see him as just a little bit more. And this would be his chance. If he was in shape, but he wasn't and she would realize that she deserved so much more and she would run off with Doctor Sam who was in shape and who had motivation. So, he would never get to be more than just friends with Jessica Day.

Unless.

He whipped out his junky laptop and opened Google and searched "how to get in shape in one night" and quickly glanced over the results. According to the gods of Google, the fastest he could get in "sexy shape" was a week. But, he wasn't going to the gym in a week he was going tomorrow, so he opened the page and multiplied all the exercises by seven because that must be how that works, right? It works with alcohol. After the first five pushups he figured it was time for a break and rewarded himself with a couple beers. He really did intend to finish shaping his body after that but when he got down on the floor for the next set of pushups he felt himself dozing off...


	3. The Sleep Before pt 2

(a/n) this one is from Jess's perspective. Enjoy!

As Jess skittered off to her room while Nick remained laying out on the couch, she couldn't help but do a little excited dance. Of course, it didn't take much for her to feel the urge to dance, but this was a special kind of dance. This was a 'I just got Nick to give in to working out with me, beat THAT Schmidt' kind of dance. Of course her stomach was doing a whole different kind of dance in response to the thought of seeing Nick workout. Cece called this particular stomach movement 'sexual desire' and 'lust', but that made Jess squirmy so she called it 'naughty butterflies'. And that's exactly what was happening right now, despite her other 'yay I got Nick to exercise' dance. And this was all getting complicated because Jess is only one lady and she can really only keep track of so many dances. Cece has also said that one of her dances is 'dancing around her feelings for her roommate' but Jess still isn't so sure about that one. Sure, she thinks Nick is great and charming and occasionally the sweetest guy in the world but he's also a borderline alcoholic and perpetually grumpy. Even if his turtle face is adorable. Jess makes an executive decision to put these thoughts aside for a rainy day. Her rainy day to do list is growing at an alarming rate.

Jess flutters around her room putting on her favorite set of pajamas and rifling through her closet for clothes to wear to the gym in the morning. She finally decided on her flowery racer back tank-top and a pair of purple leggings. Normally she dressed a little more sloppily for the gym, instead opting for an oversized shirt and old shorts, but tomorrow was different. But not because Nick was tagging along, no sirree. She just wanted to look cute for herself. Not old Nick Miller. Nope.

She finished her nightly routine and settled under her blankets, planning to go straight to bed to prepare for tomorrow, but sleep evaded her and she eventually sat up and turned on her reading light to do some grading. That always knocked her out. A couple papers in and her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy but she still heard the familiar sounds of Nick getting a beer from the fridge. She smiled to herself as she put away her materials and switched off her light. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.


	4. Sexy Jess

**(a/n) i don't totally love this, but let me know what you guys think! sorry the update took so horribly long, i just started a class and started a new job so things have been busy. i'll try to be better about updating regularly! thanks for reading!**

Jess was the kind of girl who normally woke up energized and ready to go, if a little bleary eyed, but today was on a whole different level. She had karate chopped the snooze button with a spirited "hi-ya!" before American Authors had had a chance to tell her how this morning would turn into the best day of her life. In fact, she probably would have gotten it turned off much sooner if her attempted ninja flips hadn't ended with her hopelessly tangled in her lavender colored sheets.

When she had bested the sheet monster and got her feet on her bedroom floor, her "Empowered Women" playlist was already bopping and her glasses sat askew on her nose. On any other day, she would be listening to her music through her headphones because the guys had strictly prohibited her music on the account that it was "testosterone sucking" and "honestly disappointing, Jess, and this is coming from a proud feminist with a penis." Quotes courtesy of Schmidt. Today was different though. Today, the other guys were out, and it was just her and Nick. And that didn't do anything to her insides, no sirree. But it did mean she could play her bomb playlist because Nick would never complain about it. He made the occasional face, but Jess had a sneaking suspicion that the face was only to keep up appearances for the guys, and secretly, Nick didn't really mind her music. That also didn't do anything for her. Nothing at all.

On an average gym day it took Jess three songs to be dressed and heading to the kitchen, but today the second song had barely gotten through the first verse by the time she was dancing out her bedroom door and straight into good ol' Nick Miller.

"Jeepers, Nicholas," she yelped as her nose smashed straight into his chest, "Watch where you're going!"

She looked up at his face with eyes watering from the sting of the impact and noted that Nick had yet to step away from her.

"Oh God, sorry Jess! Are you ok? I wasn't paying attention, I'm still half asleep. I can't remember the last time I was up this early. Are you crying? Oh come on, did I really hit you that hard."

Jess did her best to roll her eyes, but it really just resulted in an affectionate smirk. Typical Nick, swinging, like a pendulum rebelling against the laws of physics, between concerned fluffer and annoyed room friend.

"I'm fine, Nick, my eyes are just watering..." her sentence wandered off into some dusty corner of her brain as she registered two important details at nearly the exact same time. Firstly, Nick was seemed to be standing even closer to her than before and his large man hand had somehow found it's way to her shoulder. But this was no "ello there good pal" shoulder pat, no sirree, this was more of a thumb stroking, gentle cradling, shoulder rub that made Jess want to lean into his touch. Secondly, and perhaps this should be moved to first place, her nose was bleeding. Everywhere.

Nick's eyes snapped away from hers and his hand was suddenly gone from her shoulder and she only had a moment to miss its warmth before she decided perhaps she should focus on the large amounts of blood currently gushing from her face holes.

Nick herded her into the bathroom mumbling something about this experience being a great inspiration for his zombie book and how he was still "so sorry Jessica, but DAMN you bleed a lot" and Jess finally had enough and had to kick him out of the bathroom when he attempted to use a white bath towel to wipe up instead of paper towels. Schmidt would have had a fit.

When she had finally convinced Nick to go put on his gym clothes ("NOT jeans Nick and NOT a flannel") and the bleeding had finally slowed to just a trickle, she bent over the sink, set her hands on the edge and let the shock of cold porcelain seep up into her bones and distract her from the injustices of the world. Namely, Nick Miller. And also world hunger, poverty, and racism, but right now she was focused on Nick Miller. Perhaps, Cece was right. Maybe it was time to embrace the naughty butterflies instead of just trying to shove them back into their little cocoons. Maybe it was time for...no...she had sworn she would never bring this version of herself back...but the way Nick looked at her even when she had bodily fluid gushing out of her nose orifices...Cece was right. It was time to let the naughty butterflies fly.

It was time. Time for Sexy Jess. Or as Cece called her, Terribly Awkward Jess, and sometimes, Oh God I Can't Even Watch This Is So Bad Jess. But no matter what Cece said, Sexy Jess is how she met Spencer. And lost Spencer, but that is besides the point. Ol' lumberjack Nick Miller would be no match for Sexy Jess. She would just get it out of her system and they could go back to being friends and all the awkward tension would be gone. Sexy Jess could do no feelings. Sexy Jess could pound one out and forget all about it. This was definitely the time to summon Sexy Jess. And luckily, the gym was the perfect place to do it.

Jess whipped her gaze away from the rusty drain and locked onto the orbs of blue staring at her from the mirror.

"Go time" she whispered.

She sauntered back to her room (Normal Jess prances, Sexy Jess is better than that) and stripped out of her blood soaked clothes. The blood dribbles gave her the perfect excuse to put on the workout clothes that Cece had bought her when they spotted a cute guy at the gym. She had never ended up getting past the front door though because Schmidt rattled off four jar-worthy statements right in a row and she decided that she'd rather not be wearing those clothes in public if those were the thoughts she was provoking. But Sexy Jess _lived _to provoke those thoughts. So Jess put on the see through racer back tank-top with a low neckline leaving little to the imagination, and a pair of light pink leggings that hugged the goods just a bit more than she was used to.

She felt like one of those women who led the super intense video workouts and never broke a sweat. She grinned at that. Those seemed like girls that Nick would like.

She swung open her door, somewhat more cautiously this time, and strut into the kitchen.


	5. Flustered Nick

**(a/n) ok so I lied, I have not in fact updated more regularly. i'll spare you the long winded excuses. basically just work, college apps, and mental health. the usual. but BEHOLD! a new chapter! and im SORRY its so short, but GOOD news, i have a lot of time in the car this weekend so expect another update soon. for real this time. i swear on nick miller's flannels. **

Nick wandered back to his room after being kicked out of the bathroom by a bloody Jess ("Nick, we do _not_ use bath towels on blood!"). He hated when she used her teacher voice. She thought he didn't know the difference between her exasperated voice and her teacher voice, but ever since he dropped her lunch off for her at work once and heard her talking to her class, he could tell the difference clear as day.

He flopped down onto his bed, scrubbing his hands over his face. He really hated Past Nick Miller. For a multitude of reasons really, but mostly right now for getting him into this whole gym mess. And for drinking those beers last night. After giving Past Nick a strict talking to in his head and warning Future Nick to not do or say anything stupid to embarrass him in front of Jess, he slapped himself across the face and kicked his way through the trash on his floor to his clean clothes pile.

After a couple minutes of digging and several instances in which he wondered if he had mixed up his clean and dirty piles again, Nick found a pair of gym shorts and shirt that could pass for athletic apparel. He threw them on and hastily smeared on some deodorant, all the while physically restraining himself from bopping along to Jess's music seeping under his door.

Once he deemed himself to be looking and smelling somewhat decent he reminded himself that he had nothing but platonic feelings for Jess and that this whole situation was just fine. Then he walked out the door.

He had much more than platonic feelings for Jess. This situation was not fine at all.

Jess was standing by the front door with her back to him, leaning against the wall, apparently waiting for him. That was all fine. The skin tight pink leggings? Not as fine. But in a much different sense, _very _fine. Nick mentally deposited a fiver in the Douche Bag Jar. He was spending too much time with Schmidt. He was not a perv, but damn with Jessica dressing like that and just being so damn..._Jess_ all the time: it was hard to keep his head above his belt line sometimes. So, sue him.

Jess heard him and spun around and Nick made another donation to the Douche Bag Jar. Jess's white tank top dipped significantly lower than her usual dresses and Nick was having a hard time keeping his gaze at an appropriate level.

"Uh, is that what you're," Jess cocked an eyebrow at him and his inner Cece warned him to redirect or get his ass kicked. "I mean, uh, I don't think I've seen those leggings before, they, uh, they look real good on ya," he peeked up to see if he came off to creepy and was relieved to see that special smile on her face that seemed to be reserved just for their moments.

"Why thank you, Nicholas!" she said, in a voice that could only be described as a sultry Daffy Duck. He should NOT find that sexy. Maybe he should see one of those eccentric sex therapists. He didn't want to end up with a boner every time he watched Looney Tunes.

He not so subtly readjusted his shorts and demanded the blood in his cheeks and other regions to promptly return to their normal positions, please and thank you.

"Yeah, yeah. Are you ready to go? Where are we headed? The Y?"

Jess looked offended. He tried again: "Anytime Fitness? That one purple place?"

Her eyebrow gave an exasperated quirk, but she took mercy on him all the same. "Crossfit, Nicholas. I'm not doing any of those wimpy workouts. I'm going to show you a _real _gym today."

Nick's stomach dropped. This did not bode well for he who had just searched the steps to a burpee on WikiHow last night. Jess grinned up at him and shuffled towards him, her fingertips grazing along his forearm. He didn't gulp. Not in the slightest.

"But you work you, Nick," she said, punctuating her words with a squeeze, "so you'll fit in with the Crossfit crowd just fine."

And with that she dropped his arm-now covered in goosebumps-grabbed her keys, and sauntered out the door.

Nick was silent the whole ride to the gym. Ok well not totally silent. Jess had put on her playlist again and as far as he was concerned, not singing along to T Swizzle was a crime. But other than that? Radio silence. He was all crossed arms and grinding teeth. And Jess was all bright eyes and cheery voice and annoyingly still wearing that damn tank top.

When they finally pulled up to the gym (or as Jess had bubbly informed him, the box), Jess turned off the car and flipped her torso to face him.

"Nick, if you're that uncomfortable we don't have to go. It's not a big deal, we can get some lunch and go back to the loft," she said, her eyes blasting concern at him.

Damn this girl. Here he was being a complete asshole and she was still only looking out for him. Why was he like this? He put on a smile and grabbed her hand, not letting go despite the way his stomach seemed to drop down into his ratty tennis shoes.

"No, Jess it's fine. I'm sorry I was being a jerk. Let's go inside," and then she smiled at him and squeezed his hand and some unhinged part of him decided to keep talking, "Besides I wouldn't want to miss seeing you workout in those leggings."

Time stopped. Jess blinked. Once. Twice. Nick cleared his throat.

"I mean, uh...what it do, girl..."

Jess blinked a third time before she burst out laughing and Nick could breathe again. When she finally ceased laughing at his expense, she reached over, planted a kiss on his cheek, and swung open the car door.

"Let's go find out, Nick. Let's go find out."


End file.
